Florida State University, the Leon County Sheriff’s Office and AI firm ChatGPT are just some of the agencies and entities facing negligence lawsuits over the April 17, 2025, mass shooting on the school’s campus that killed two people and injured five.
FSU, which recently marked the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, quietly settled one negligence claim from the shooting last year and has been named in at least two other notices of possible litigation.
The exact number is unclear because FSU refuses to release any documents or information pertaining to negligence claims and settlements – a position experts say runs contrary to Florida’s Sunshine Law and shrouds an important part of the tragedy in secrecy.
The university cited the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, enacted to protect the educational records of students, when it denied public records requests from the Tallahassee Democrat.
The Democrat learned about the claims against FSU after obtaining notices of intent to sue the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. LCSO, which provided the notices in response to a records request, is connected to the shooting because one of its deputies is the stepmother of the alleged shooter, and her former service weapon was used in the attack.
Robert Morales, 57, a former Tallahassee restaurateur who served as dining coordinator at FSU, was killed in the shooting. Tiru Chabba, 45, an executive with FSU vendor Aramark from Greenville, South Carolina, also was killed.
Chabba’s family is represented by national civil rights lawyer Bakari Sellers and attorney Jim Bannister, who both practice in South Carolina, and Boca Raton lawyer J. Robert Bell III. No lawsuit has been filed, however, and a spokesman for the lawyers declined to say whether one is coming.
An attorney for Reese Gourley, an FSU student who was shot in the back, gave notice in letters dated June 12 of negligence claims against FSU, the Sheriff’s Office, Tallahassee State College and Deputy Jessica Ikner, who changed her last name after the shooting. The notices say her client intends to sue for money damages.
“We have not yet filed any lawsuits,” said Carrie Roane, a partner at Fasig | Brooks in Tallahassee. “Over the past year, we have been carefully evaluating all of the evidence as it has been developing and we are patiently and thoroughly examining all potential avenues of appropriate legal recourse which could best serve our client.”
Under Florida’s sovereign immunity laws, people with claims against state and local governments must give formal notice of their intent to sue at least 180 days before filing a lawsuit.
The Florida Tort Claims Act also caps civil damages from such actions at $200,000 for any one person and $300,000 per incident. To collect more, the Florida Legislature must OK a special ‘claim bill.’ Legislation passed this year and awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ review raises those caps to $350,000 per person and $500,000 per incident.
The alleged gunman, Phoenix Ikner, a 21-year-old who was enrolled at FSU at the time of the shooting, is scheduled to go on trial in October on murder and attempted murder charges. He was shot in the face by an FSU police officer only three minutes after the gunfire began.
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Ikner, who earned an AA degree at TSC, was part of LCSO’s extended family before the shooting and served on its Youth Advisory Council while in high school.
He was fascinated with Hitler and Nazi Germany and expressed neo-Nazi views when he attended TSC, students previously told the Democrat. However, a Leon County grand jury found that he “wanted to kill as many people as possible” and didn’t target any group or person in particular.
In her claims letters to FSU, LCSO and TSC, Roane wrote that her client, who was a sophomore at the time, sustained “serious injuries” as a result of the campus shooter.
“Concerns about this individual were previously raised while he was a student at (TSC),” she wrote. “He also received firearm training from the Leon County Sheriff’s Office, and obtained the unsecured weapon used during the shooting from his stepmother.”
Roane told the Democrat that Gourley, who remains enrolled at FSU, is “immensely grateful” for the “incredible response” to the shooting by campus police, the Tallahassee Police Department, LCSO and medical personnel.
“However, we are evaluating various safeguards which could have been utilized, and will hopefully be utilized in the future, to prevent senseless acts of violence on a university campus,” she said in a text.
Roane also noted Ikner’s recently revealed use of ChatGPT, in which he asked an AI chatbot about weapons and ammunition and how many people would need to die for a mass shooter to make national news.
“We believe that, based on the disturbing conversations we have seen between Ikner and ChatGPT, that ChatGPT/OpenAI could and should have had appropriate barriers in place to prevent that type of information exchange and the violence that can, and did, result.”
Hobbs, Betty Morales’ lawyer, said in April that he and his law partner Dean LeBoeuf are preparing a lawsuit against ChatGPT and its parent company, alleging Ikner was in “constant communication” with the AI chatbot before the mass shooting. In April, Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a criminal probe into Open AI and ChatGPT over its links to the shooting and other crimes.
Morales’ lawyers also obtained a $305,000 out-of-court settlement from from the company that provides homeowner insurance on the house where Ikner lived with his father and stepmother.
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Judd Rosen, a Miami attorney representing one of the victims in the mass shooting, notified the Leon County Sheriff’s Office of their intent to sue in a May 19 letter. The victim, whose name was redacted, suffered “serious injuries” in the shooting.
The claims letter lists involved governmental entities as FSU, FSU Police, FSU Campus Access & Security, the Sheriff’s Office and Leon County government.
In a 14-page letter, Rosen asked that all evidence pertaining to the shooting be preserved, including all safety and security policies, all staff or faculty safety training records, including those pertaining to active shooters and information pertaining to previous assaults or shooting that occurred at FSU.
Rosen did not return a phone call from the Democrat.
The Democrat filed public records requests with FSU in March and April asking for copies of any claims, complaints, settlements or general releases stemming from the mass shooting. In response, the university provided one seven-page document that was completely redacted but nothing else.
FSU said any records responsive to the requests were confidential and exempt from disclosure under FERPA and a related state statute. The university said in response to a request for settlements that it couldn’t provide records “without a FERPA release,” or student authorization.
The Democrat then asked the university to provide information about claims and settlements without revealing the identities of any students. FSU declined.
“Out of respect for the victims and their families, we have no further comment on this matter,” Amy Farnum-Patronis, senior director in the Office of University Communications, wrote in an April 20 email.
Barbara Petersen, CEO and publisher of the Florida Center for Government Accountability and a Sunshine Law expert, said FSU could redact any exempt information while still providing records and basic details of any litigation stemming from the shooting. She added that the university can’t “hide behind a tragedy” to avoid its statutory and constitutional obligations to provide access to public records.
“Knowing the number of claims, knowing the amounts of the settlements reached is not disrespecting anyone, dead or alive,” she said. “It’s information that is important to the community. This was a tragedy that affected the entire community, and people in the community have a right to know how the university is dealing with this and what they’re doing about it.”
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: FSU, LCSO face negligence lawsuits one year after mass shooting
Reporting by Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
